There are many types of clamps, pliers, wrenches and vices which have two jaws and are designed to bring the two jaws into clamping contact to one another. Typically, in a clamp for example, the concept is to enable the user to have considerable mechanical advantage, generally through use of a threaded shaft and a crank, to compress the jaws together with a great deal of force, perhaps several hundred pounds even with simple home shop clamps.
There is little available in the way of clipping and clamping devices which are operative at relatively low compression levels, and which are light weight and highly controllable. For example, the metal clamps used in woodworking and the like are not really suitable for holding a handle on a teacup while the glue dries. Not only because the jaws are generally metallic and would mar the teacup, but also because the screw-type compression generally is not highly controllable, and overtightening might easily result in breaking the handle in two before it was ever fixed in the first place.
Using this same teacup as an example, it would be nice to have a clamp that would operate under controllable, low pressure level and which was light enough that the teacup could be resting in its normal position without additional support and clamped in-place. Typically, clamps are so heavy that the teacup would roll around into an upended position.
There are such things are alligator clips and the like which will put a moderate degree of pressure on an object or objects. Clips are limited in that the maximum spacing between jaws at which the jaws are still reasonably parallel is very limited, because of the pivotal relationship between the jaws. Additionally, the force applied by the jaws of clips is not ordinarilly adjustable. What is needed is a small, very lightweight clamp with jaws which slip tight under finger pressure, maintaining the jaws parallel at all times, and permitting a wide opening to be established between the parallel jaws.
Such a need was met by the provision of the SLIP 'N GRIP clamp, which is the subject of co-pending design U.S. patent application No. 562,981, filed Dec. 19, 1983. This clamp has jaws that are made of lightweight plastic ribs sliding on small diameter aluminum rods, with cork tips, making it ideal for small repair jobs and for hobbyists. The jaws are squeezed together, and when they engage an object, the engagment spreads the jaws at a slightly non-parrallel orientation, wedging them on their rods. The pressure that is applied is thus easily controlled because it is not mechanically multiplied. The cork tips offer further yielding so that the clamp is ideal for small, delicate jobs, for example working with models, balsa wood, china or glass.
To further enhance the effectiveness of the SLIP 'N GRIP clamp, a multi-modal mounting structure has been devised which basically comprises a generally flat base defining a keyway thereon which cooperates with a key defined at the end of one of the clamp jaws to support the clamp in an orthogonal orientation to the surface on which the base is mounted.
In addition to the mounting orientation using the key and the key and the keyway, a pair of spaced sockets defined in the base can serve as an alternative clamp mounting means by virtue of the slide rods which mount the jaws, these rods being insertable into the rod sockets to mount the clamp at an angle orthogonal to the angle achieved by the first mounting technique.